In part 3 of this series on simplifying ADO.NET data access we will finally switch gears and start providing a cleaner approach. Under the hood we will continue to use ADO.NET but it will be wrapped in a provider-agnostic layer that doesn’t require any of the boilerplate code that we are used to seeing with ADO.NET.
Simplifying ADO.NET Data Access, Part 2
Part 2 of a series on simplifying ADO.NET code.
In the previous article we talked about the basics of ADO.NET. There are times where ADO.NET is still the correct choice for data access. Unfortunately it was written back in the original days of .NET and hasn’t been updated with newer features like generics. In this article we will update the ADO.NET types to make them easier to use. This is a stepping stone to simplifying the overall data access process.
Windows Services Made Simpler, Part 3
In this series of articles I have been demonstrating a simple approach to making Windows services. In the previous article I discussed the different components generally involved in writing a service. I also provided the code for the service host and started working on the service instance. In this article I’m going to finish up the implementation of the service and demonstrate how all this comes together.
Windows Services Made Simpler, Part 2
In the last article I provided an overview of Windows services and the issues involved in writing one compared to a normal program. In this article I will demonstrate how to write a simple service in a way that helps alleviate these issues. Before getting into the code for a service it is important to reiterate that a single process can host multiple services at the same time and each service can be started or stopped on its own. It is therefore useful to break up a service into its components so that each component does only what it is expected to do. When creating a service I find that there are 3 different components: service host, service instance(s), and service worker.
Windows Services Made Simpler, Part 1
In Windows a service is a process whose lifetime is managed by the system rather than by a user. MSDN describes a service as a long running process and often times this is true. Services tend to start before a user logs in (or shortly thereafter) and run until the system shuts down. This is unlike traditional applications that start up after a user logs in and terminates when they log out. While a service looks a lot like a standard application they behave quite a bit differently. In this article I’ll discuss some of the issues around creating a service and ways to make it easier to write and debug one.
A Smarter WCF Service Client, Part 5
After a long delay I’m finally ready to finish up my series on creating a smarter WCF service client. Please refer to the previous articles for where we’re at.
- Identifying the issues with service references and the existing WCF client code
- Creating a smarter WCF service client
- Simplifying the calling of a WCF service
- Creating the skeleton client template
We’re now ready to generate the T4 template to back the client template.
A Smarter WCF Service Client, Part 4
In the last article we presented a solution for calling WCF services that needed only a single line of code and no using statements. But it had many limitations including
- Reliance on a static class
- Testability was low for any code using it
- Reliance on the WCF client rather than the contract
- Not optimized for multiple calls
In reality the previous series of articles where all about setting up the infrastructure to support the final solution. All this infrastructure will be hidden from code when we are done. Let’s get started.
A Smarter WCF Service Client, Part 3
In the last article we replaced the standard WCF service client with an improved version. But beyond solving an issue with cleaning up the client we haven’t really improved the calling code any. In this article we are going to look at one approach for making the calling code cleaner. The less code that is needed to call something the cleaner it tends to make code. We will present one approach for making WCF calls one-liners. This is not always the best solution so we will talk about the disadvantages as well.
A Smarter WCF Service Client, Part 2
In the last article we made a case for why the standard WCF client generated by a service reference is not a great idea. Among the issues listed were testability and proper cleanup. To fix these issues we will need to ultimately replace service references altogether but this is time consuming for large code bases. When we started down this path at my company we did it using an iterative approach. While the intermediate stages may appear to be (and, in fact, may be) a step back we are ultimately working toward a solution that I believe is far better.
A Smarter WCF Service Client, Part 1
WCF is a great way to implement service-based APIs but the standard approach to consuming a service lacks a lot to be desired. In this series of articles I will discuss the approach that I’ve used in commercial applications to make consuming WCF services much cleaner and simpler. We will start with the standard approach and identify its flaws. From there we will work toward a solution that has minimal impact on consumers while providing maximal benefit. The solution itself is large but not overly complex. More importantly, once finished, you never need to worry about it again.